Private Ernest McGregor (5407)

Ernest McGregor was the son of the widowed Mrs. Elizabeth Cosh of Minnivale.  At the time of his enlistment Private McGregor was working as a mill hand for Whittaker’s Mill at North Dandalup.  Ernest McGregor applied to enlist at Bunbury and then enlisted at Blackboy Hill in March 1916, having been rejected previously on the basis of defective eyesight.  He served in the 28^th Battalion.

Embarking at Fremantle on A28 Militades on 7^th August 1916, Private McGregor was found to be unwell with an abscess on the liver and he disembarked at Cape Town, South Africa, on 21^st October where he was admitted to the 2^nd General Hospital.  Mrs. Cosh was informed by telegram that her son was progressing favourably on 22^nd December, but by 29^th December he was considered dangerously ill and his mother was notified accordingly.  Private McGregor died of liver disease there on 3^rd January 1917 and was buried in the Military Allotment at Maitland Road Cemetery in Cape Town.

The Maitland Road Cemetery is the principal cemetery in Cape Town, 10km from the centre of the city.  In the cemetery are the remains of 45 Australians and 4 New Zealand members of the Forces who lost their lives in the 1914-1918 war as well as 2 New Zealanders who lost their lives in the Second World War.  In addition there are in the Plumstead Cemetery, 12 miles (about 20km) from the centre of the city, the graves of 6 Australian members of the Forces who died in the First World War and 1 New Zealander, as well as one New Zealander buried in the Mowbray Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery in Cape Town.  Prior to the Imperial War Graves Commission taking responsibility for the graves there was a group of Australian women who tended the graves at the Maitland Road Cemetery.  Once the War Graves Commission took over tending the graves these women continued to lay wreaths at the Stone of Remembrance each ANZAC Day for many years.  On ANZAC Day 1946 a service was held in the Cemetery, and in 1947 the ANZAC Day service there was attended by 60-70 people and the High Commissioner for Australia, among others, laid a wreath.

Private Arthur Holroyd (244)

Arthur Holroyd came to Australia from England when he was 14 years old.  At the time of his enlistment at the age of 24 in March 1916 he was farming on the Dowerin-Koorda Road at Glencoe Farm.  Arthur Holroyd was taken on strength with the No 4 Australian Machine Gun Company on 23^rd December 1916.  The company diary for the night of 4^th February 1917 indicates that the 4^th Machine Gun Company was part of an attack by the 13^th Battalion supported by one company of the 14^th Battalion and one of the 16^th Battalion.  The location of the attack is unclear to me as it is indicated by map references and the names of trenches.  The diary indicates that counter attacks were made by the enemy, although there is no mention of the fate of individuals.  The diary entry for 5^th February indicates the enemy was quiet on their front although enemy aeroplanes were particularly active.

Arthur Holroyd was killed in action on 5^th February 1917 although the circumstances of his death are unclear.  He was buried in Beaulencourt British Cemetery one mile south of Bapaume in France.  His mother requested that the following words be placed on his headstone: “In loving memory.  He gave his life in response to his Country’s call”, an inscription that remains on the headstone.  His brother-in-law W.C. Phillips also served in the A.I.F and returned to Australia.

 

Private Arthur James Harris (5725)

Arthur Harris was the son of the Minnivale storekeepers and farmed at Minnivale.  He enlisted in March 1916 in Dowerin in the 11^th Battalion, proceeding to France where he was taken on strength with the 28^th Battalion in November 1916.  Promotion to lance corporal occurred in January 1917 and temporary corporal in February.

In part as a consequence of the tremendous losses incurred during the Somme Offensive in 1916, German forces on the Western Front between Cambrai and St Quentin withdrew to a new defensive line during February and March 1917, shortly after Arthur Harris joined the 28^th Battalion.  Called the “Siegfried Line” and the subject of a song in Britain about washing, this complex system of defensive fieldworks and mutually supporting fortifications was named the “Hindenburg Line” by the Allies. In fact it was only one of a series of highly sophisticated linked defensive trench lines constructed by the Germans from the coast to Verdun.

In the lead up to the Battle of Lagnicourt in April 1917 the Australians had been conducting a series of advances through the area.  Private Harris was killed in action on 26^th March 1917 at Lagnicourt, 9 miles north east of Bapaume in France and was buried in one of a group of isolated graves west of Lagnicourt which later became Queant Road British Cemetery where Arthur Harris is commemorated as part of a special collective memorial with a headstone engraved with his details and full regimental description and “known to be buried in this cemetery”.  He was the brother of Sergeant John William Harris, M.M., who died of his wounds in France.

Private Harold Reeve Beechey (200)

Harold Beechey came from England to join his older brother Christopher and the pair farmed at Ucarty.  Kris had come to Australia in 1910, Harold in 1913, so their farm was barely established when the severe drought of 1914 hit.  There was no harvest, no work, no money.  Harold saw the army as a means of getting some money together, as well as his patriotic feelings.  He enlisted in September 1914 at the age of 23 in the 16^th Battalion, part of the 4^th Brigade of the AIF which was commanded by Colonel John Monash.  The 16^th landed late in the day on 25 April and a week later was thrown into the attack on Bloody Angle, suffering many casualties.  Harold was evacuated with dysentery and pneumonia in the middle of May 1915 and was sent to Alexandria.  He returned to Gallipoli at the beginning of August had more bouts of dysentery, and by September was too ill to continue.  He was evacuated to hospital in Wales.

In March 1916 he returned to Egypt and was posted to the newly-formed 48^th Battalion, part of the doubling of the AIF.  The 48^th Battalion was known as the Joan of Arc Battalion as it was ‘made of all Leanes’, with Captain Ben Leane the adjutant and his brother Raymond leading the battalion. In Egypt they were defending against the Turks who never arrived.  In June 1916 Harold was in France, and was wounded at Pozières with a piece of shrapnel through his arm and chest on 6 August 1916 while acting as runner, there being no lines of communication, and was evacuated to England again.  The windmill at Pozières was a centre of the struggle in the Somme battlefield in July and August 1916 and Australian troops fell more thickly on this ridge than on any other battlefield of the war.  Before the end of 1916 Harold was back in France where he was promoted to Lance Corporal.

At Bullecourt on 10 April 1917 a surprise attack by the 48^th Battalion was called off, and the Germans opened a heavy bombardment.  A shell made a direct hit on a party of men close to battalion HQ, killing Major Ben Leane and also Lance Corporal Harold Beechey.  Harold Beechey has no known grave and is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.  Harold Beechey is not listed on the Dowerin war memorial, although he was resident at Ucarty at the time of enlistment.

Private George Edward Buswell (4758)

George Buswell was a farm hand from Minnivale.  He enlisted in Perth in November 1915 and was taken on strength with the 48^th or ‘Joan of Arc’ Battalion in France in June 1916.  In August 1916 George was admitted to hospital in France with a severe shrapnel wound in the right shoulder and was transferred to England.  By March 1917 George was back in France.

The 48th’s first major battle on the Western Front was Pozières where the battalion endured what was said to be heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops and suffered 598 casualties.  Almost immediately the battalion was required to defend ground captured during the battle of Mouquet Farm.  On 11 April 1917 the 48^th was involved in the Battle of Bullecourt, was one of several villages in northern France to be heavily fortified and incorporated into the defences of the Hindenburg Line in 1917.  In March 1917, the German army had withdrawn to the Hindenburg Line in order to shorten their front and thus make their positions easier to defend. This move was rapidly followed up by the British and empire forces, and they launched an offensive around Arras in early April 1917.  An attack to assist the Arras operations was launched on Bullecourt on 11 April 1917 by Australian and British troops.

The attack was hastily planned and mounted and resulted in disaster. Tanks which were supposed to support the attacking Australian infantry either broke down or were quickly destroyed. Nevertheless, the infantry managed to break into the German defences. Due to uncertainty as to how far they had advanced, supporting artillery fire was withheld, and eventually the Australians were hemmed in and forced to retreat. The two brigades that carried out the attack suffered over 3,300 casualties; 1,170 Australians were taken prisoner – the largest number captured in a single engagement during the war.

George Buswell was reported missing in action on 11^th April 1917 and later confirmed killed in action at Bullecourt in France on that day at the age of 29.  Private Buswell had no known grave and is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.  Thomas Cooke of Minnivale was the executor of his will.  George Buswell’s parents were given a pension of 5/- per fortnight from 14^th March 1918.  George’s mother wrote, for the Roll of Honour Circular:

Four ‘gritty’ boys, school chums, finding the home agricultural pulse to be weak, suddenly decided to emigrate to West Australia.  They all settled down, and did well.  George Buswell went into the bush, and gained real estate. 

Private Albert Broadbent (2838A)

Albert Broadbent was a single man, a farm labourer, well sinker and miner, living in Dowerin at the time of his enlistment at Dowerin in March 1916; he was 36 and single.  His parents’ address was given as Nenin Farm, Dowerin.  Albert was part of the 5^th Pioneer Battalion.  In March 1917 Albert and ‘Don’ Company of the 5^th Pioneer Battalion took over a camp near Bapaume, France.  On the night of 9/10 May 1917 the Second Battle of Bullecourt was underway and artillery shells hit the camp.  A shell made a direct hit on one of the ‘Don’ Company tents.  Twelve members of the Company were killed and another 23 wounded.  Among the dead was Albert Broadbent.

Albert was buried in the Vaulx Hill Cemetery, 4 miles north east of Bapaume.  His name is on the Dowerin war memorial and also on the Cherry Gardens war memorial, on the Cherry Gardens Methodist (now Uniting) Church roll of honour and on a stained glass window in the Cherry Gardens Methodist (Uniting) Church, as well as three other honour rolls in the Dorset Vale district.

After the war Albert’s parents left Dowerin to live in Southern Cross.  Albert’s brother, Sapper Harry Franklin Broadbent MM, of 2^nd Division Signal Company, returned to Australia in 1919 and died in an explosives accident at the Golden Horseshoe mine near Kalgoorlie in 1940.

Lieutenant Frank Eric Throssell (Trooper 64)

Ric Throssell, as he was known, was born in Northam, the son of George and Annie Throssell (nee Morrell).  Ric’s father George was the second Premier of Western Australia and his more famous brother Hugo was the only member of the 10^th Light Horse Regiment to be awarded the Victoria Cross in the Great War.  Ric and Hugo were farming at Cowcowing before they enlisted.  Ric, Hugo and Henry Eaton all enlisted in the 10^th Light Horse together in October 1914; Ric was then 33.

Ric served at Gallipoli where he received a gunshot wound to the chest in August 1915, returning to duty in February 1916.  He was killed in action at the Second Battle of Gaza in Palestine on 19^th April 1917 and remained unburied in enemy territory at a place called Man Kheileh, although his effects were collected by one of his colleagues.  In February 1919 Ric Throssell’s body was exhumed and reburied in the Military Cemetery Gaza.

Gunner David Smith (863)

David Smith came to Australia from England as a child. He was an assisting farmer at Wyalkatchem, aged 18 when he enlisted in March 1916.  He was taken on strength with Y3A Medium Trench Mortar Battery in October 1916 and proceeded to France.  David Smith’s records give very little detail but he was buried at Ploegsteert Wood just south of Messines in Belgium, part of the Ypres Salient.  According to Wikipedia after fierce fighting in late 1914 and early 1915 Ploegsteert Wood became a quiet sector where no major action took place and units were sent to recuperate and train.  However there are numerous Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and memorials around the wood and the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing with 11 000 names.  David Smith is listed as killed in action on 22^nd May 1917 and he was buried in Strand Military Cemetery in Ploegsteert Wood.  Strand Military Cemetery is fairly large, with over 1000 burials.  The cemetery started early in the war when two soldiers were buried here in October 1914, then it was not used again until April 1917.

Corporal Clement Cook Junction Frearson (865)

Clem Frearson was the son of Septimus and Emma Martha Frearson of Allandale Farm, Dowerin.  Clem farmed with his brother at Nambling just west of Dowerin.  He enlisted in March 1916 into the 44^th Battalion aged 26 and having served with the Dowerin Light Horse for 4 months.  The battalion left Australia in June 1916 and proceeded to Britain for further training, reaching France at the end of the year.

The 44^th spent the bleak winter of 1916-17 alternating between service in the front line, and training and labouring in the rear areas. For Clement Frearson this time saw him promoted to lance corporal in January and corporal in April 1917.

Corporal Frearson was reported missing in action on 4^th June 1917, just days before the battalion’s first major battle at Messines in Belgium.  A court of inquiry found that Frearson has been involved in a daylight raid at 2pm on that day in the Messines Sector and was struck by a shell fragment on the right sight.  He was seen lying in a shell hole and was carried by the officer in charge of the raiding party and a private to a place of comparative safety on the Australian side of the German wire.  Because of enemy snipers they were unable to carry him back to the Australian lines at that time.  A party set out at dusk to retrieve Corporal Frearson but no trace of him was found.  It was considered probable that he was either buried or blown up by enemy shell fire.  His entrenching tool was later found on a German salvage dump.  The officer in charge of the raiding party reported that Frearson was one of the best NCOs in the company and a splendid character, and reported to have killed at least two men in the raid.  On the Roll of Honour circular Clem’s father wrote that he was awarded stripes for good conduct and a medal for becl-bombing.

Clem Frearson has no known grave and his name is inscribed on the Australian Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

Sergeant Henry John Eaton (65)

Henry Eaton was the son of William and Hanora Eaton of Margerin, a farm 8 km south of Goomalling.  When he enlisted in October 1914 at age 29, he stood 6 foot 4 inches tall.  Eaton was actively connected with all classes of sport in the district, being a fair cricketer and footballer, a splendid horseman and a good rifle shot, distinguishing himself as a rifle shot with the 10^th Light Horse in camp and afterwards as a sniper at Gallipoli.  He was an outstanding horseman who rode at picnic races and could shoot kangaroos at a full gallop.  The Goomalling-Dowerin Mail reports that the town of Goomalling held a sendoff for Harry Eaton at the Mechanics Institute on 12^th December 1914 where there were speeches, dancing and a presentation to the departing soldier.  Henry Eaton was a good friend of the Throssell brothers, especially Ric, and they enlisted together.  The Throssell brothers travelled down from Cowcowing and collected Henry on the way.

Henry Eaton was promoted from the end of 1914 through until he became a sergeant in August 1915.  He embarked for Gallipoli in May 1915 and was with the 10^th Light Horse in the battle of Lone Pine.  After that he was unwell and spent time in hospital in England until joining the 51^st Battalion in France in February 1917.  The 51^st was involved in the Battle of Messines between 7 and 12 June and raids continued throughout July.  Henry was killed in action on 17^th July 1917 in Belgium and is buried in the Messines Ridge British War Cemetery.

Just before Henry’s death his father had sent a cablegram informing him that a parcel was on its way, and had a reply from the army that it could not be delivered as the soldier had returned to Australia.  Unfortunately it was another Eaton of the same unit who had returned to Australia.

Private Alfred Groves (6322)

Alfred Groves, a farmer from Wyalkatchem, arrived in Australia from England at the age of 19.  In September 1916 he enlisted aged 25 and was joined the 28^th Battalion, proceeding to France in June 1917.  For many of the major battles of 1917 the 28th found itself in supporting roles. At the second battle of Bullecourt, the 28^th provided reinforcements who were nonetheless involved in heavy fighting. The 28th went on to attack as part of the third phase at the battle of Menin Road, capturing its objectives in seven minutes, and was in reserve during the capture of Broodseinde Ridge. The battalion was also in reserve for the battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October, but, with the attack floundering in the mud, it soon became embroiled in the fighting.

The Battle of Menin Road was an offensive operation, part of the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front, undertaken in an attempt to take sections of the curving ridge, east of Ypres, which the Menin Road crossed.  The attack was successful along its entire front, though the advancing troops had to overcome formidable entrenched German defensive positions and resist fierce German counter-attacks. A feature of this battle was the intensity of the opening British artillery support. The two AIF Divisions sustained 5,013 casualties in the action.

Alfred Groves was killed in action on the first day of the battle of Menin Road near Ypres on 20 September 1917 in Belgium and has no known grave.  He is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.

Private Stewart Arthur McDowall (6956)

Stewart McDowall, a farmer from Wyalkatchem, was born in New Zealand.  In his time in the Dowerin district he was best man at the wedding of Arthur Maisey and Flora Campbell and he served for 9 months in the 25^th Light Horse based in Northam.  He had previously served 6 months in the Scottish Regiment in Melbourne. The office commanding the 25^th Light Horse Squadron, Lieutenant Oldham, wrote to the Camp Commandant saying that Private McDowell was an honest straight forward young man with the makings of a good soldier.  There seems to be two versions of his surname: McDowall and McDowell.

Steward McDowall enlisted in June 1916 aged 31 years, and joined the 16^th Battalion, proceeding to France in May 1917.  The 16th Battalion formed part of the 4^th Brigade commanded by Colonel John Monash.  The 16^th Battalion spent much of 1917 in Belgium and was awarded the battle honour of Ypres, 1917 to recognize involvement in the Third Battle of Ypres, the principal British offensive in Flanders in 1917 known as Passchendaele.

From 26 September until 3 October 1917 the 16^th Battalion participated in the battle of Polygon Wood, securing strongly defended German positions in the area of Polygon Wood and consolidating positions on the Menin Road Ridge, a battle characterized by bitter fighting and fierce German counter-attacks.  Stewart McDowall was killed in action on 26 September 1917 in Belgium, at Passchendaele according to his brother William McDowall in the Roll of Honour circular, but possibly in the action at Polygon Wood, and although his army records list that he was buried, he now has no known grave.  He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium.

Private Roy Harlow Angus (6283)

Private George William Thomas Greenham (2574)

Private Victor Lundy (3291)

These three men served in different battalions with the AIF but all died at the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge in Belgium.

Roy Angus was farming with his brother John Garthorn Angus at Tynedale Farm in Koorda when he enlisted in October 1916, giving his mother’s address as Badgerin, Dowerin and he joined the 27^th Battalion.  Before Roy left Tyndale, he swung his axe into a salmon gum and it is believed to be still there.  He was taken on strength with the 28^th in May 1917.

For many of the major battles of 1917 the 28th found itself in supporting roles; the battalion served as part of the third phase at the battle of Menin Road in September 1917, part of the Third Battle of Ypres, an attempt to take sections of the curving ridge, east of Ypres, which the Menin Road crossed.  The attack was successful along its entire front, though the advancing troops had to overcome formidable entrenched German defensive positions which included mutually supporting concrete pill-box strongpoints and also resist fierce German counter-attacks.  The 28^th Battalion captured its objectives in seven minutes.

George Greenham was the son of A.J and Emily Greenham of Badgerin, north of Dowerin.  In July 1916 he enlisted in the 44^th Battalion, giving his occupation as farmer, aged 22 and standing 6 foot tall.  He was taken on strength in April 1917.  The battalion fought its first major battle at Messines, in Belgium, between 7 and 10 June 1917. In the months that followed it was heavily employed in the Ypres sector in costly defensive operations. On 7 and 10 August George Greenham was wounded and remained at his post.

Victor Lundy, a farmer from Dowerin, was the 17^th child and 11^th son of Mary Ann and the late Alexander Lundy.  He enlisted in November 1916 and proceeded to France to reinforce the 21^st Battalion in July 1917.  In October 1917 the 21^st Battalion participated in the 3-kilometre advance that captured Broodseinde Ridge, east of Ypres.

The battle of Broodseinde Ridge was a large operation that began before dawn on 4 October 1917. The Australian troops involved were shelled heavily on their start line and a seventh of their number became casualties even before the attack began. When it did, the attacking troops were confronted by a line of troops advancing towards them; the Germans had chosen the same morning to launch an attack of their own. The Australians forged on through the German assault waves and gained all their objectives along the ridge. It was not without cost, however.  German pillboxes were characteristically difficult to subdue, and the Australian divisions suffered 6,500 casualties.  However the Battle of Broodseinde was a significant defeat for the German forces.

Roy Angus was killed in action at Broodseinde in Belgium on 4 October 1917.  Exhaustive searches and investigations did not locate his grave, nor was there any information which might indicate his probable original or later resting place and his name was inscribed on the Menin Gate in Ypres, a memorial to the missing.

Of the 992 men of the 44^th Battalion who were involved in the Ypres operations, only 158 emerged unwounded when it was finally relieved on 21 October.  George Greenham was killed on 4 October 1917, the first day of the battle and he was buried at Bedford House Cemetery, one mile south of Ypres.

Victor Lundy was killed in this action during an attack on Zonnebeck just west of Ypres in Belgium on 4^th October 1917 and has no known grave, being commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.  On the Roll of Honour circular his mother wrote that Victor was very desirous to fight for his homeland and though turned down seven times for defective sight, he was accepted for enlistment on the eighth attempt.  His medical records indicate that the doctor recorded that his right eye was doubtful but that Lundy was a good rifle shot with his left eye.

Lieutenant Leonard Charles Cooke MC (882)

Leonard Cooke, a labourer, was the son of John Henry and Emily Cooke of Cowcowing.  He enlisted aged 24 in August 1914 with Allan Black from Koorda and joined the 11^th Battalion, among the first from the district to enlist.  The 11^th Battalion was among the first troops ashore at Gallipoli at 4:30am on 25 April.  Ten days after the landing, a company from the 11th Battalion mounted the AIF’s first raid of the war against Turkish positions at Gaba Tepe. Subsequently, the battalion was heavily involved in defending the front line of the Anzac beachhead. In August, it made preparatory attacks at the southern end of the Anzac position before the battle of Lone Pine.

Leonard Cooke was promoted to corporal in the Dardanelles in July 1915 and to sergeant in the following August.  He suffered a severe gunshot wound on 5 September 1915 and was transferred to hospital in England, rejoining the battalion in France in April 1916 and was further promoted to lieutenant in November 1916.

On 15 May 1917 Len Cooke was awarded the Military Cross for ‘conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.  He established and maintained communications under very heavy fire throughout the operations and set a splendid example of courage and determination’, award recommended on 23 April 1917 and awarded 15^th May 1917 (from the Commonwealth Gazette no. 169 of 4^th October 1917).

Private Frank James Card (3132)

Frank Card, a labourer in Dowerin, enlisted in October 1916 at the age of 23, having been previously rejected for enlistment on account of heart palpitations, and joined the 48^th Battalion known as the Joan of Arc battalion as it was “made of all Leanes”.  Frank Card was taken on strength in France in July 1917.

As a part of the continuing Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front, Australian, New Zealand and British troops were involved in an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Passchendaele Ridge from the defending Germans on 12 October 1917. The vicious fighting took place in the most appalling of waterlogged conditions, which helped render the name Passchendaele a synonym for slaughter. The 3rd Australian Division’s attempts to struggle forward to their objective with little artillery protection represented the last major Australian participation in the Third Battle of Ypres.  The action that had already killed four Dowerin men also took Frank Card.

Frank Card was listed as wounded and missing in the field in Belgium during the Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917 and then posted as killed in action on the same day.  He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate.  Despite the efforts of the grave services unit no information about the place of death of Frank Card was available so his brother was asked if he knew anything from correspondence.  Arthur Card replied that Frank was a good correspondent and had written on 22 September 1917, but he and his friends had no more information to offer.

Private James Smith (3213)

James Smith farmed with his brother William at Bencubbin from 1910; their eldest brother, Arthur Bertram Smith, farmed east of Wyalkatchem.  It is thought that James and William Smith rode to Wyalkatchem where they took the train to Perth to enlist together.   James Smith enlisted at the age of 23 in August 1916 in 51^st Battalion.  He embarked from Fremantle in December 1916 with his brother William and proceeded to France in June 1917.

Arriving in France on 12 June 1916, the 51st moved into the trenches of the Western Front within a fortnight. Early in 1917, the battalion participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line.  Later in the year, the focus of the AIF’s operations moved to the Ypres sector in Belgium. There the battalion fought in the battle of Polygon Wood between 26 and 27 September. Another winter of trench routine followed.

The Third Battle of Ypres was the major British offensive in Flanders in 1917 and again the 51^st Battalion AIF was involved.  The First Battle of Passchendaele began on 12 October 1917.  James Smith was killed in action in Belgium on 14 October 1917.  He was reinterred at Aeroplane British Cemetery just north east of Ypres.  His brother William Smith also of the 51^st Battalion was killed in action on 24 April 1918 at Villers-Bretonneux in France and of another brother Peter Oliver Smith of the 44^th Battalion returned to Australia in January 1919.

Private Samuel Gibbings Hawkes (5861)

Samuel Gibbings Hawkes was from New Zealand and, although he had trained as an accountant, he was a teacher in Dowerin when he enlisted in the 27^th Battalion in April 1916 at the age of 42.  The 27^th took part in its first major battle in France at Pozières in late July and early August 1916.  After a spell in a quieter section of the front in Belgium, the battalion took part in two attacks to the east of Flers in the Somme Valley, both of which floundered in the mud.  On 20 September 1917 the 27^th Battalion was part of the 2^nd Division’s first wave at the battle of Menin Road where they were successful, followed by the capture of Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October in which the 27^th played a role.

Samuel Hawkes was gassed on 29 October 1917 at Passchendaele near Ypres in Belgium at the age of 44, suffering from extensive burns from the shell and the effects of the gas on his lungs and his heart.  He was taken by the 3 Australian Field Ambulance to the 10 Casualty Clearing Station but as his condition deteriorated he was transferred to hospital in England.  Samuel Hawkes died of his wounds on 7 November 1917 in Queen Mary’s Military Hospital in Whalley in Lancashire.  He was buried in Bromley Cemetery also known as the London Road or Old Cemetery in Bromley, Kent in a private family grave.  The records report that he was buried with his kinsfolk, that a firing party, a bugler and pall bearers were supplied by the Guard of Administrative Headquarters AIF in London.  His coffin was draped with the Australian flag and the Last Post was sounded at the graveside by an Australian N.C.O. It further reports that numerous wreaths were placed on the coffin by relatives.